regarding ginger beer, i spent much of 2012 making gb using an authentic gb
plant.
highly recommended over yeasted versions.
On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 4:24 AM, Richard Conroy <richard.conroy at gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi Frantisek,
> I have done quite a lot of alcoholic ferments using ginger, and started
> out much the same as the way you did. I have since moved on to making my
> ginger beer with malt extract/all grain, and hopping it just like any other
> beer.
>> Also using honey rather than refined sugar is another trick that I really
> like, I use it for honey ginger wines where I want to have a higher alcohol
> strength beverage (~8-10% ABV). Ginger + Honey + Red soft fruits & berries
> (especially plums) = AWESOME.
>> Standard advice with alcoholic ferments is to ferment until complete and
> resweeten/prime when the yeast is done. The higher the strength, the longer
> you will need to leave it age and develop flavour, but they also preserve
> longer. You will need a hydrometer/refractometer. If you bottle too early
> you can get some interesting bottle bombs.
>> Many of the components of ginger, including its fieryness are in my
> experience very volatile, and blow out your airlock when you do alcoholic
> ferments.
>> I am thinking of trying to introduce more of it at batch priming time
> instead (but I dont do batch priming currently). The theory is that you add
> your priming sugar into a solution, and siphon your ferment onto it. Leave
> until it fully mixes and then bottle with that. Your priming solution can
> contain more than just water, and you can use it to introduce flavour kicks
> or volatile aromas lost during fermentation. Haven't tested this yet.
>> I have haphazardly taken down odd notes and photos here:
>https://www.facebook.com/The.Sum.of.all.Beers>> Been meaning to store this in somewhere more ordered, but life is a bit
> too busy at the moment.
>>>>>>> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 8:14 AM, Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com>wrote:
>>> Hi Michael,
>> Many thanks for tips! I will get back to your email most likely tomorrow.
>> Just for now I've relocated to South Korea, specifically to the island
>> called Jeju. Beautiful location but I have not found a brewing shop here
>> yet so I have to be minimalistic.
>>>> Anyway talk to you more tomorrow and once more thanks for your tips.
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>> Frantisek Algoldor Apfelbeck
>>>> biotechnologist&kvasir and hacker
>>>>>>http://www.frantisekapfelbeck.org>>>>>> "There is no way to peace, peace is the way." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
>>>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Michael Lyons <cprmichael at yahoo.com>
>> *To:* Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 5, 2013 3:46 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: [Tastebridge] suggestions for alcoholic ginger beer
>> experiments
>>>> Thanks for asking. I've have quite a bit of experience brewing though
>> hardly consider myself to be an expert. I applaud you for brewing an
>> alcoholic drink that is not beer. Personally, I stopped brewing beer a few
>> years ago when the price of ingredients doubled and it became cost
>> prohibitive for me.
>>>> First of all, there are many reasons to not use baking yeast, and many
>> types of yeast to choose from which have different qualities you can take
>> advantage of. One of these qualities is the alcohol concentration at which
>> the yeast attenuates ie. stops functioning. Another quality is how well
>> the dead yeast flocculate and settle out of the liquid.
>>>> Another substance you might want to consider is Yeast Nutrient, which is
>> inexpensive. I have used it when I have brewed hard cider, which doesn't
>> have the natural nutrients that beer wort does.
>> The quantity of yeast you use is not particularly relevant since the
>> yeasties multiply and theoretically one yeast cell could (eventually)
>> ferment any amount of beverage. Asking at brew shop is a good idea.
>> Also keep in mind that yeast are reusable, so you can save some of the
>> used yeast in a suitable, airlocked bottle. A really fun thing to do is
>> to have a fresh batch ready for ferment when you siphon off the finished
>> brew off the old yeast. Dump the fresh batch on top of the old yeast and it
>> will take off full bore in an couple of hours.
>>>> As for adjusting the sweetness, I suggest using a non-fermenting
>> sweetener, like stevia or lactose. I remember having a problem with a cider
>> I made that would not stop fermenting. I had let it ferment until the yeast
>> stopped, but it ended up tasting incredibly dry. When I added more sugar to
>> get the right sweetness, the yeast would re-activate and within a week or
>> two the sugar would be gone and the cider would be too dry again.
>>>> If you are using brown sugar for flavor, remember that it is white sugar
>> mixed with molasses, and you might as well use white sugar and add molasses
>> for flavor.
>>>> Speaking of flavorings, it is often best to add them after the
>> fermentation. When I tried making a cherry cider, all of my great cherry
>> flavor I'd added before fermenting went up in the bubbles my yeast gave
>> off while it was working on the sugar during fermentation.
>>>> As for water, remember that Anchor brewery and I think speakeasy too, use
>> straight SF tap water. Fine product from Hetch Hetchy. Great taste and fine
>> to brew with. Chlorine & flouride and inconsequential no need to filter,
>> sanitize or mess with the water from the tap; "they" already do that.
>>>> As for fermentation vessels, most people I know use either 5 gallon food
>> grade plastic buckets with lids or glass carboys. Fermentation locks are
>> necessary to keep out bacteria and errant yeast, especially during the
>> later stages of the fermentation when the yeast is not throwing off so much
>> CO2. Many of us rig up a blow off tube for the first part of the
>> fermentation because ordinary locks can get clogged with vigorously
>> bubbling yeast and blow out..
>> Fyi, we have all this gear at Noisebridge.
>>>> I have no idea what temperature 25C is, but the nice thing about living
>> where we do is that yeast like it too. 60-70F. I would be leery of using a
>> submersible pump, since the brew is not circulating and you're likely to
>> get part of the batch too hot. Traditionally we keep blankets around the
>> brewing vessel and they make electrically heated wraps for fermentation
>> containers.
>>>> Well that's my two cents. Good luck and let me know if you have any more
>> questions or would like any other help.
>>>> -michaeLyons
>>>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com>
>> *To:* "foodhackingbase at lists.hackerspaces.org" <
>>foodhackingbase at lists.hackerspaces.org>; tastebridge tastebridge <
>>tastebridge at lists.noisebridge.net>; 091 Foods <091-food at googlegroups.com>
>>>> *Sent:* Monday, March 4, 2013 5:06 PM
>> *Subject:* [Tastebridge] suggestions for alcoholic ginger beer
>> experiments
>>>> Hi to all and to alcoholic brewers especially,
>> I just started a new experiment aiming to brew nice alcoholic ginger beer
>> and I have some questions below. My first batch will be most likely too
>> sweet, but it is the max end of the screening which I want to do (on the
>> sweet side), the details for the first experiment are below. I would like
>> to ask for recommendations for the next experiments, I put some ideas below
>> at the end. It is possible that I may be able to sell the final product, of
>> course I plan to share the technology, recopies etc.
>>>> The final volume of the brew = 5 l; Specifications:
>>>> 0.1% (w/v; 5 g) of bakers dried instant yeast (primed/activated in warm
>> water with bit of light brown sugar for +-30 min)
>> 20% (w/v; 1000 g) of light brown sugar (dissolved in hot water)
>> 4%(w/v; 200 g) of ginger (fresh, cleaned by brush and blended in mixer,
>> added to the brew at the beginning of fermentation)
>> 95% of used water is commercial purified water (I shake it a bit to get
>> some oxygen in it)
>> fermentation vessel is 5 l plastic container, narrow mouth, closed by
>> lid, no air lock at the momment
>> the brew is fermenting at +-25C in my "aquarium heater" based incubator
>>>> It started to go on within few hours and it is fermenting really
>> strongly, anaerobic fermentation as mentioned. I tasted it yesterday (two
>> days after starting) and it is quite sweet still and bit alcoholic. I am
>> thinking about starting another brews under same conditions changing just
>> the sugar concentration to 15% and 10%(w/v). What do you think about that?
>> Below are more ideas, please do remember that I do not have too much
>> experience with alcoholic fermentations. Also I ferment in the same
>> environment all my probiotics but I am using the clean newly bought plastic
>> vessels for the alcoholic ginger beer.
>>>> THE NEXT EXPERIMENTS - Ideas and suggestions
>> - decreasing the level of sugar concentrations to 10 and 15% (w/v; 500
>> and 750 g respectively)
>> - changing the type of sugar for completely white sugar (which may be an
>> issue concerning the nutrition for the yeast) resulting in more clear
>> gingery flavour
>> - changing the type of sugar for dark rich brown sugar resulting in
>> more heavy complex flavour because of molasses
>> - changing the amount of yeast added to a lower concentration
>> to decrease the possibly off flavour
>> - increasing the concentration of ginger and maybe processing it with
>> heat, which would result in more "spicy flavour" due to the transformation
>> of gingerol to more pungent zingerone
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingerol>> - more ideas?
>>>> I should mention that I do not have access to any specific yeast now, I'm
>> bit low on cash, otherwise what strains would you recommend? I heard nice
>> thinks about California Ale yeast but I'm not sure if it would be suitable.
>> Maybe some more "cider" style yeast would be better?
>>>> Many thanks for any ideas, I will be in touch within next few days with
>> few news :-)
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>> FAA
>>>> PS I have made another batch of kimchi yesterday from Chinese cabbage,
>> miso, fish souse, ginger and garlic so I'm really looking forward for the
>> results.
>>>> Frantisek Algoldor Apfelbeck
>>>> biotechnologist&kvasir and hacker
>>>>>>http://www.frantisekapfelbeck.org>>>>>> "There is no way to peace, peace is the way." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>Tastebridge at lists.noisebridge.net>>https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/tastebridge>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>Tastebridge at lists.noisebridge.net>>https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/tastebridge>>>>>>> --
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